Island hockey, NHL 12 Be a GM

[bthomp05]

Still in the playoff picture, great work.

[Dynasty]

31 game update, woops played an extra game!

Starting the third period down 3-0 the Islanders own the play and Grabner nets this winner in overtime to seal an epic come back win

Team record: 15-11-5 / 13th in NHL / 9th in East

Team stats after 31
Wins: 15 (12th in NHL)
Goals for: 90 (11th in NHL)
Goals for per game: 2.90 (8th in NHL)
Goals against: 89 (9th in NHL)
Goals against per game: 2.87 (10th in NHL)
Powerplay percentage: 29% (1st in NHL)
Penalty Kill percentage: 77,4% (15th in NHL)

Moulson slides it to Grabner who finds Tavares for a nice goal

Coach Capuano on the past eleven games
Yeah Nabokov has struggle din the net recently, he’s had a lot of trouble finding and tracking pucks but Rick has stepped in and done a good job, he has held us in games and made the saves he’s needed to, to keep us where we are in the league right now.

Our offense has done wonders most games for us as well, there's been times where we literally outscore our defensive mistakes, while this is something I have stressed to the guys we cant rely upon or try to make a staple of our game, we will take it when it comes but I believe we need to return to how we started this year.

Boxing out guys in front of the net and keeping everything to the outside, with 51 games remaining in the season teams are really pushing for traction right now and were right in the middle of all the pushing and shoving.

Moulson turns playmaker and finds Parenteau driving to the net for this nice goal

New York Islanders Stats - 2011
Skaters	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	GW	PIM	SOG	SPCT
Michael Grabner	31	15	18	33	12	3	0	124	12.1%
John Tavares	31	15	14	29	7	4	4	95	15.8%
Kyle Okposo	31	12	14	26	12	2	6	92	13%
P.A. Parenteau	31	8	14	22	-6	2	8	83	9.6%
Matt Moulson	31	10	9	19	-8	0	2	93	10.8%
Josh Bailey	31	5	13	18	-4	0	10	60	8.3%
Mark Streit	31	2	11	13	0	0	8	41	4.9%
Brian Rolston	31	2	10	12	-10	1	10	75	2.7%
Marty Reasoner	31	4	8	12	2	0	9	31	12.9%
Bryan McCabe	19	1	9	10	-1	0	0	23	4.3%
Frans Neilson	31	3	6	9	-5	0	2	36	8.3%
Travis Hamonic	30	2	5	7	4	0	2	19	10.5%
Jay Pandolfo	31	2	5	7	-11	1	2	40	5.0%
Evgeny Artyukhin	31	4	2	6	-1	0	38	43	9.3%
George Parros	33	4	2	6	1	1	41	27	14.8%
Milan Jurcina	31	0	3	3	2	0	6	17	0%
Theo Peckham	34	2	1	3	4	0	32	28	7.1%
Goalies	GP	W	L	T	GAA	TOI	SV	SV%	SHO
Evgeni Nabokov	19	8	11	0	2.86	1155	476	.894%	0
Rick Dipeitro	12	7	5	0	2.30	730	310	.915%	1

The offense is in a good place right now, both top lines are producing and making things happen out there, liens three and four do what they can but beyond Artyukhin and maybe Parros most of these guys will be done after this season.

Nabokov has completely fallen apart as of late, i'm going to say the past 15 games he’s been realllly shaky. Luckily for me Dipietro has been stable enough that I am confident in playing him, he holds his ground well enough to at least give me a shot at winning games, and realistically that’s all I can ask of him.

My defense irritates me greatly lol, Jurcina and Eaton are a horrible horrible pairing, and it doesn’t matter where I move them its always the same, they are just far too slow to be effective, sadly that’s all I got so I try to insulate them as much as possible but its lead to many goals against.

NHL League Leaders - Updated: Jan 1,
Goals		G	Assists		A
	1. Rick Nash	19		1. Jonathan Toews	31
	2. Thomas Vanek	18		2. Mike Ribeiro	31
	3. Alexander Ovechkin	18		3. Martin St. Louis	27
	4. Jacob Voracek	18		4. Marian Hossa	26
	5. Phil Kessel	17		5. Nicklas Backstrom	26
Points		PTS	Shots		S
	1. Marian Hossa	42		1. Alexander Ovechkin	147
	2. Jonathan Toews	41		2. Phil Kessel	135
	3. Joe Thornton	40		3. Devin Setoguchi	131
	4. Eric Staal	40		4. Patrick Kane	131
	5. Mike Ribeiro	38		5. Ryane Clowe	131
Wins		W	Goals against average (15+ GP)		GAA
	1. Carey Price	19		1. Corey Crawford	1.86
	2. Corey Crawford	17		2. Ryan Miller	1.97
	3. Cam Ward	16		3. Carey Price	2.00
	4. Jonathan Quick	16		4. Cam Ward	2.11
	5. Mikka Kiprusoff	16		5. Pekka Rinne	2.14
Save Percentage (15+ GP)		SV%	Shutouts		SO
	1. Ryan Miller	.935%		1. Carey Price	4
	2. Corey Crawford	.933%		2. Antti Niemi	4
	3. Cam Ward	.928%		3. Jonathan Quick	4
	4. Antti Neimi	.925%		4. Tomas Vokoun	3
	5. Mikka Kiprusoff	.924%		5. Nikolai Khabibulin	3

I can honestly say this is the first time ive see this happen! lol lucky goal

GM Garth Snow on the Islanders
Were heading in the right direction, and I can't stress that enough at this point. I have been happy with the performance of our on ice players for the most part, but we are a growing and evolving team.

We have a mix of youth and veteran presence here and there are areas that we need to improve on, and in that regard I am searching for everything that I can do to help progress the team but right now the prices are high, and with the points being really close right now the asking price for some of the guys we would like to get is just too high to justify the gains.

I want to add to the team, not blow it up, or sell off our future considerations when we worked so hard to get them.

Ultimately I would like to add defence and a good young goalie to our depth charts right now, I think up front we are in a good place, even though I would like to inject more size and physical play into our top six, I am definitely not going to complain with how they are performing.

Right now we have to be patient, as we have been for the past few years, the team is heading to a good place and we are just outside the playoff picture right now, with 51 games remaining in the season we have a good chance of pushing into the playoffs and I think our entire team is excited for that, as well as our fan base here.

I think it's best to sit tight right now and see how the next nine games play out and where we are then, until then I will keep making calls and listening to the whispers on the wind, if I get the chance to make a deal I think will improve this club, that deal will get done.

NHL Standings - Updated: Dec 20, 2011
EAST PLAYOFF RACE	W	L	OTL	PTS	GF	GA
Montreal	21	9	4	46	107	80
Carolina	20	11	3	43	104	86
Toronto	19	10	4	42	104	103
Florida	18	10	5	41	95	88
Tampa Bay	17	11	4	38	88	89
Washington	15	9	7	37	91	76
Boston	17	13	2	36	87	81
Rangers	17	11	2	36	90	81
Philadelphia	17	14	1	35	90	93
Islanders	15	11	5	35	90	89
WEST PLAYOFF RACE	W	L	OTL	PTS	GF	GA
Chicago	21	9	4	46	107	80
L.A.	20	11	3	43	104	86
San Jose	19	10	4	42	104	103
Calgary	18	10	5	41	95	88
Minnesota	17	11	4	38	88	89
Vancouver	15	9	7	37	91	76
Edmonton	17	13	2	36	87	81
Nashville	17	11	2	36	90	81

[Dynasty]

Quote: Originally Posted by LeafsFan31

Great job Dynasty. Very interested to see how you decide to turn this team into a winner.

Thanks leafs, I am constantly looking around the league but I am uncertian how to proceed right now, trade deadline isnt that far away so it really depends how the team is doing at that time.

Quote: Originally Posted by bthomp05

Still in the playoff picture, great work.

thanks bt, i move in and out of a playoff spot, hopefully by the end of it all, i am in lol

[Dynasty]

40 game update, starting to slip

Team record: 19-15-6 / 22nd in NHL / 12th in East

Team stats after 40

Wins: 19 (12th in NHL)
Goals for: 120 (6th in NHL)
Goals for per game: 3.00 (3rd in NHL)
Goals against: 112 (7th in NHL)
Goals against per game: 2.80 (8th in NHL)
Power play percentage: 29.9% (1st in NHL)
Penalty Kill percentage: 78.1% (15th in NHL)

Coach Capuano on the past nine games
Right now we have our offensive game on track and pushing hard at the opposition, where we loose games is defense and goaltending failing.

now I am not sticking that solely on those players, we have always approached our defensive game as a 5 man unit, and that is something we need to work on again, right now were slowly sliding back in the standings and treading water isn’t good enough to get into the playoffs at this point, which is what ever guy inside this locker room wants.

As a result Mark Eaton will be a healthy scratch for a few games and Steve Staios will slot back into the line up to try and give a boost to the guys, Eaton will be the odd man out as he is our only defensemen in the minus column and that needs to be fixed, hopefully watching a couple games form the press box will be all Mark needs.

With Nabokov struggling of late Dipeitro will take over as our number one guy for the time being, Evgeni will get his shot again but I think he needs some time to rest and get some perspective on this season and his career at this point, even though we have been giving our goalies shared ice time the past few weeks we believe that Rick is just giving more to the team then Nabokov right now.


Peckham launches one at the net for his third of the season

New York Islanders Stats - 2011
Skaters	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	GW	PIM	SOG	SPCT
Michael Grabner	40	23	21	44	19	4	0	154	14.9%
John Tavares	40	18	18	36	12	5	4	121	14.9%
Kyle Okposo	40	15	19	34	17	2	10	119	12.6%
Josh Bailey	40	9	18	27	-5	0	14	81	11.1%
P.A Parenteau	40	10	16	26	-7	2	12	101	9.9%
Matt Moulson	40	10	15	25	-7	0	2	126	7.9%
Mark Streit	40	3	15	18	0	0	10	48	6.3%
Brian Rolston	40	2	13	15	-10	1	12	94	2.1
Bryan McCabe	28	3	12	15	6	1	0	34	8.8%
Marty Reasoner	40	7	8	15	6	0	9	43	16.3%
Jay Pandolfo	40	4	7	11	-8	2	2	54	7.4%
Frans Nielsen	40	3	7	10	-6	0	2	43	7%
Travis Hamonic	39	2	7	9	2	0	4	22	9.1%
Evgeny Artyukhin	40	4	4	8	-1	0	40	63	6.3%
George Parros	42	5	2	7	-2	1	46	39	12.8%
Theo Peckham	43	3	3	6	13	0	32	33	9.1%
Milan Jurcina	40	0	5	5	3	0	8	19	0%
Mark Eaton	39	0	2	2	-6	0	2	11	0%
Goalies	GP	W	L	T	GAA	TOI	SV	SV%	SHO
Evgeni Nabokov	26	11	15	0	2.77	1579	630	.897%	0
Rick Dipietro	14	8	6	0	2.26	849	355	.916%	1

So you can see line one is dominating, more so Grabner is dominating but they play very well as a unit and I rely on them very much, it's just something about Grabner and Tavares that I just feel that when they have the puck, they can score.

Defense is okay but needs work, what can I say its a patchwork defense and it shows, plus/minus for the D core is decent, I’ve seen worse but my bottom pairing is unreliable and I don’t have many options to switch it up, I am putting in Staios and sitting Eaton for now to see if that helps a bit, but I doubt it.

I am aggressively pursuing trades but I haven’t made any final decisions yet, trade deadline is around a month away and I like to be active before the deadline, so that fits my style, we shall see how it goes

NHL League Leaders - Updated: Jan 12, 2012
Goals		G	Assists		A
	1. Alexander Ovechkin	26		1. Mike Ribeiro	36
	2. Patrick Kane	25		2. Joe Thornton	35
	3. Michael Grabner	23		3. Jonathan Toews	34
	4. Sidney Crosby	22		4. Nicklas Backstrom	34
	5. Rick Nash	22		5. Henrik Sedin	33
Points		PTS	Game Winning Goals		GWG
	1. Joe Thornton	53		1. Tomas Fleischmann	8
	2. Alexander Ovechkin	49		2. Loui Eriksson	6
	3. Jonathan Toews	48		3. Jussi Jokinen	6
	4. Mike Ribeiro	47		4. John Tavares	5
	5. Marian Hossa	47		5. Tomas Plekanec	5
Wins		W	Goals against average (20+ GP)		GAA
	1. Carey Price	24		1. Corey Crawford	1.77
	2. Corey Crawford	22		2. Ryan Miller	1.95
	3. Mikka Kiprusoff	20		3. Carey Price	1.97
	4. Cam Ward	20		4. Pekka Rinne	2.05
	5. Ilya Bryzgalov	19		5. Antti Niemi	2.24
Save Percentage (20+ GP)		SV%	Shutouts		SO
	1. Corey Crawford	.936%		1. Carey Price	5
	2. Ryan Miller	.934%		2. Tomas Vokoun	4
	3. Pekka Rinne	.927%		3. Ilya Bryzgalov	4
	4. Carey Price	.926%		4. Ryan Miller	4
	5. Tim Thomas	.924%		5. Antti niemi	4

Grabner sliding into the goal leaders there, that’s nice to see. He is having a very good year so far, I am hoping he will keep it up since he stall has potential to grow, hopefully he gets a good boost out of this year.

Chicago continuing the dominance, Crawford is playing lights out for them right now. I just played Chicago two games ago and dominated them offensively but Crawford shut me down, Grabner got my only goal and I had 40 shots and three power plays.


Quick and accurate passing gets Grabner all alone for a power play goal



Hello fans and readers, for TSN I am hockey insider Bob McKenzie.

There has been roughly forty games played in the NHL and teams are starting to find out if they got what it takes or not, as the standings become clearer and the weak start to fade away, those teams looking forward to a playoff berth are also staring down trade deadline.

The deadline this season is on February 28th which is about a month and a half away, and while most GM's are not in a panic mode, the search for what they believe will have a beneficial impact on their clubs has switched into a higher gear.

So what does this mean for your beloved Islanders? well it could possibly mean many things.

The feeling out of Long Island, and from Islanders GM Garth Snow is that he is happy with the results the team has been able to supply this year, it is obvious what the Islanders can do with the current players they have and while the consensus is that Snow wont sell the future for the present, he may just be willing to sell the very near present (I.e.: this season) to bring in bigger pieces for a stronger run next year.

There are many variables here, but let's stat by looking at the Islanders themselves.

at the NHL level here are the players with only the remainder of this year left ton their contracts:

C Frans Neilson (3G 7A in 40 GP, current assignment: 3rd line center)

LW Brian Rolston (2G 13A in 40 GP, current assignment: 3rd line winger 2nd power play point)

LW Jay Pandolfo (4G 7A in 40 GP, current assignment: 3rd line winger)

RW George Parros (5G 2A in 42 GP, current assignment: 4th line winger)

RW P.A Parenteau (10G 16A in 40 GP, current assignment: 2nd line winger)

D Steve Staios (0G 2A in 12 GP, current assignment: 3rd pairing)

D Theo Peckham (3G 3A in 43 GP, Current assignment: 2nd pairing)

D Bryan McCabe (3G 12A in 28 GP, current assignment: 2nd pairing, 2nd power play point)

D Milan Jurcina (0G 5A in 40 GP, current assignment 3rd pairing)

D Mark Eaton (0G 2A in 39 GP, current assignment, healthy scratch)

G Evgeni Nabokov (11 W 15L .897% 2.77 in 26 GP, current assignment: back up)

Now looking at this list, all of these guys minus Theo Peckham will be unrestricted free agents, most of them are veterans who while they may provide leadership, they are not providing much else to this club.

With the greatest chance of return I would give to Theo Peckham, P.A. Parenteau, Bryan McCabe and perhaps George Parros. So that leaves a lot of names that could be moved as assets at or before the trade deadline by Islanders GM Garth Snow.

Also there are rumours circulating around the Islanders that Evgeni Nabokov wants out, and is demanding a trade to a contending team that needs goaltending, while his recent play doesn’t help his trade value, Nabokov has shown this season that he is still capable of winning games, and could be a great help to a team in need of a strong back up goaltender or perhaps even a split time starter.

With the decrease in Nabokov's play time her eon the Island it is possible he will be moved, especially if Rick Dipeitro can remain healthy and continue his recent play where he has re taken the net in Long Island.

Now the Islanders have a decent wealth of forwards but they are lacking badly on the defensive end and goaltending spectrum both at the NHL, AHL and prospect level.

With recent comments and the general feeling that Snow has seen everything he wanted to see out of the Islanders, he now has a really good feeling of what he needs to help make this club a dangerous one next season and the feeling is that defense and goaltending are on the docket.

Now the quantity and quality of those in question vary, from sources close to Snow the general indication is he is shopping for an able bodied puck moving defensemen either NHL ready, or close to it and a young goaltender that would be ready in a two to four year time frame.

usually, when a team at this point in the season makes a trade it’s for a very specific reason. Typically they are either trying to build up for a long playoff run, or sell of assets to those teams, or are addressing very specific areas of their club they feel needs enhancing.

let’s have a look at the NHL standings at this time and see who would be considered buyers, or teams vying for playoff position.

NHL Standings - Updated: Jan 1,
EAST PLAYOFF RACE	W	L	OTL	PTS	GF	GA
Montreal	26	11	5	57	129	99
Florida	25	11	6	56	125	108
Carolina	24	16	4	52	131	116
Tampa Bay	23	13	5	51	114	106
Buffalo	23	16	3	49	130	106
Washington	21	13	7	49	118	99
Toronto	21	15	6	48	125	133
Boston	23	14	2	48	112	97
Philadelphia	23	17	1	47	111	115
New Jersey	20	17	6	46	113	123
Pittsburgh	20	17	5	45	116	126
Islanders	19	15	6	44	120	112
Rangers	19	18	3	41	109	116
Ottawa	17	21	6	40	104	130
Winnipeg	15	24	3	33	108	144
WEST PLAYOFF RACE	W	L	OTL	PTS	GF	GA
Chicago	25	13	5	55	138	112
Nashville	24	13	5	53	107	98
Vancouver	25	16	3	53	125	127
Minnesota	23	13	7	53	122	114
Calgary	22	15	7	51	119	110
San Jose	24	13	2	50	125	94
Edmonton	21	15	6	48	115	112
St. Louis	20	17	5	45	112	122
L.A	21	19	3	45	113	116
Detroit	21	19	2	44	118	104
Dallas	20	17	4	44	107	121
Colorado	18	21	5	41	122	147
Phoenix	14	19	10	38	108	143
Anaheim	17	21	3	37	102	118
Columbus	16	23	3	35	109	139

With the East being a tight race down the stretch its possible teams like Toronto, Boston, New Jersey and Pittsburgh will be very active before or at the deadline.

The West is a much more open ended story particularly for the bottom of the pack, look for teams like Nashville, Vancouver, Minnesota, Calgary, San Jose, Edmonton, St. Louis, L.A, Detroit, Dallas, and maybe even Colorado to try and fill the gaps to make a drive for playoff contention and home ice advantage.

For more as trade deadline approaches, and all your hockey news keep an eye on us here.

For TSN I am hockey insider Bob McKenzie.

[LeafsFan31]

Can't wait to see what moves you end up pulling off, should be exciting!

[Dynasty]

Hello and welcome fans and readers for TSN I am hockey insider Bob McKenzie.

We have gotten word from sources near the New York Islanders that an immanent trade is coming down the line; there has been a media black out of sorts from Islanders upper management for the past four hours which adds the expectation of a coming trade.

Fuel to the fire is the cancellation of this morning on ice practice, which was explained by head coach Capuano as a precautionary measure. He went on to state that multiple players were ill and to prevent further spread of the virus no practice would be held for the next two to three days, beneficial since the Islanders have a stretch of four days off this week before resuming play at home against the Red Wings Friday night.

As it stands rumours and speculation have tied the Islanders to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota wild, Detroit Red Wings and rival New York Rangers.

Details at this time are sparse as the Islanders are holding their cards tight to the chest on this one, keep an eye on us here as the feeling is the Islanders are about to make waves on the trade ocean.

For TSN I am hockey insider Bob McKenzie.

[Dynasty]

Hello and welcome fans and readers for TSN I am hockey insider Bob McKenzie.

The temperature in Long Island is rising as the team sits idle over a pause in the action, with a scheduled four day break, the timing of which was impeccable due to a reported twelve roster players having flu like symptoms.

Trade rumours have swirled over the Islanders like a hurricane over the ocean, gathering strength from the water beneath. It was nearly thirty six hours ago that I took to the air and reported a deal was close at hand that involved the Islanders.

While my report was accurate at the time, that original deal has fallen through on multiple attempts. Of course we didn't learn this until fellow hockey insider Darren Dreger secured an exclusive interview with Islanders GM Garth Snow.

I'll now welcome Darren into the program and pass you all off to him.

Dreger:

Thank you Bob, I was able to get Mr. Snow alone for a few moments on one of the rare trips out of his office during the past week. While he was elusive with his wording Snow did reveal that he was in serious discussions involving multiple NHL teams.

While for obvious reasons Snow would not relinquish the names of the teams involved, nor the players in play he did go on to say that with his club trending out of the playoff picture and the chance to bring in some talent to assist in next years drive, coupled with a disgruntled player or two and a lot of planned turn over due to expiring contracts, Snow felt the time to act is now.

In parting Snow mentioned that the deal he was working on is a very delicate one, and has fallen through many times over the past forty eight hours, even though he had been in, what he describes as "loose negotiations" going back nearly a month. Snow imparted his excitement for getting this deal done as he believes it addressed an important price of the puzzle for his hockey club.

Mean while the rumour mill on Long Island is pumping out speculation after speculation ranging from the plausible and logical to the absurd we here at TSN believe that the Islanders have been dealing almost exclusively with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.

I'm sorry folks just a minute here, we are now getting confirmed reports that the New York Islanders have just signed free agent goaltender Marty Turco (STD) 36 years old one year deal worth 1.5M 83 overall C/C/C potential.

This deal is for only the remainder of this season and possibly has sounded the end of Evgeni Nabokov here on Long Island, we can only assume the cap minded Islanders would only spend this money if a deal was completed, or perhaps very close to being done for the veteran net minder.

With the recent play of Rick Dipietro and the faith coach Capuano has in the oft injured net minder this move would enable the Islanders to ship Nabokov, who most believe is still capable of being a number one goalie in the NHL to a team searching for help in net.

This would also add weight to the speculation of talks between the New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs. The lacklustre play of Jonas Gustavsson .790 SV% and 4.50 GAA and the feeling that James Reimer needs a mentors guidance and possible security net would lend assistance to the notion the Leafs would be looking for help in net, and may even be willing to pay a tidy sum for a goaltender of Nabokov's abilities.

The Leafs are currently holding down a playoff position and have games in hand on three of the teams above them, I would wager the Leafs are looking long and hard at Nabokov, the question is, are they? And what is the price?

[Dynasty]

FYI don't look too deeply at spelling and grammar. Last coupe updates have been done via iPhone on my lunch break at work.

Editing will be completed when I have time on the home CPU.